What would you do if you worked at an ecommerce company where all they did was build niche websites, and you had inside knowledge of which websites produced $20,000 a day vs wich ones only earned $500 a day...and they own alot You would also have access to their web logs such as search engines spiders, keyword rankings, how many visitors enter their websites each day, what sites refer them, where they get their products from, how they treat their customers. Just wondering what people would do in this situation? Would you open up a competing niche store? or say no thanks I think I'll pass.
I'd slowly build up a book of notes, and then when the time suited me I'd leave and start my own little business.
I'd store files on a cd and deface/delete the site, install keyloggers in the network, maybe crash the network ...hm
I would download all files of all websites to my iPod and study them for weeks till I figured the patterns. I would tell none. You should tell me if you know... (;
Offtopic: If I owned a business where we did websites all day I would hire someone to browse and explore DP all day. They would report to me if they found anything about to take off in the internet and they would buy every quality site for sale.
Install spyware on their networks so all regularly updated information reaches in my inbox everyday automatically, then I'd spend time studying the info and spotting the info useful for me. IT
Simple. I would let the owners know that I offer more than just the duties performed in my position at their company. I would come to them with business plans and ideas on sites, and partner with them. If they have the knowledge and ability to have such sites, they are worthwhile partners, broadly speaking. Best part of it all, you have built a business with morals, rather than stealing. Might sound like rubbish, however I have seen time and time again business' that have started by an employee who went out on their own with inside information fail because he/she thought he could pinch customers, do it better, or just wanted more money. I have seen people far more successful than they ever could have been because, presented with the above oportunity, they chose not to take "advanatage" of it, and better doors were opened to them as a result.
I'd build up and slowly work on my competing website / company while still working on mine. When I'm absolutely positive I can afford to, I'd leave that company.
I would study how everything works take notes on EVERYTHING for 2 years and then go and start my own bussiness. - Prilep
Thanks for everyone's reply! It seems the majority of people suggest to gather as much info as you can and start building. What do you think is the most important peice of information a person can have when cloning a website? Is it the referring sites, the advertising budget, or some other key peice of information. articleprincess, you suggest telling the company owners that you offer more to the table. Well they hire "managers" for each website or two offering around 50k a year which is peanuts. If the person told them that they would probably try to make them manager which is definetly not worth it. The owners can already make alot of money without having to give out more as they see poor college kids looking for jobs.
Good old cheap labour. Your right, 50k a year is not worth it. You could try and partner, say a 50/50 relationship. Tell them your idea, how you want to go about it, they back it with start up funds, developement etc. The partnership hires the manager (ie you dont manage, your just an owner) so you win there as well. Everything is negotiable, you could also manage it for the 50k a yr, and then take a percentage of profits as well. I would "test" them first, come up with an idea that is not your best, or tell them half the story, if they dont like, then you at least havent given them your full idea.... Also, how many of you are in this company? How many people there are thinking "I could do this myself...". That is also a lesson, watch your staff, pay them and keep them close, not have them run around starting competitive sites on the side. Also, I dont think there is one key piece of info that one can attribute to success, its usually a combination of things. I wouldnt look at their reffering sites list and try and emulate that, I would look at how they got their reffering site list, and why it is doing so well for them. Dont copy, understand it instead.